Posted on August 21, 2020 in Divorce

Virginia divorces can be contentious over a variety of issues, not the least of which is property division. Understanding marital property vs. separate property is one aspect of a case. However, there are circumstances in which the property can be categorized as part marital and part separate and the division will be based on personal effort in raising its value. Knowing what the law says about this can be a fundamental aspect of a proceeding and have a significant impact on the outcome.

Separate property vs. marital property

If a person had a certain property prior to the marriage, it is considered theirs even if the couple divorces. Also, if there is property accrued after the marriage and it is by inheritance, gift, devise or survivorship from anyone except the other party, it will be separate property. If separate property is sold, the proceeds belong to the spouse who entered the marriage with it or acquired it in the above ways. If there is income that came about through the sole effort of the spouse who owned it beforehand, it belongs to that spouse.

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 Posted on August 21, 2020 in Family Law

Parents in Virginia love their children and will do what they believe is best for them as they grow up. This means that parents need to provide for their basic needs such as food, clothing and a roof over their heads. However, parents also provide for healthcare, daycare, various school trips, electronics needed for school or other reasons, sports, other activities, take them on trips and provide for many other things to enhance their upbringing. This means that parents need to spend a significant amount of money on their children.

It is important that parents provide for their children whether they are married or divorced though. Both parents need to continue to provide financially for their children even though may not have as much time with the children as the other parent. This is why one parent is usually ordered to pay the other spouse child support when they divorce.

The amount that that a parent will pay for child support is generally based on the child support guidelines. These guidelines are based on the parents' monthly income, the number of children and other factors. However, sometimes a parent is not able to pay the guideline amount due to unique circumstances or sometimes a parent needs more than the guideline amount. In these cases the parents could seek a deviation from the child support guidelines.

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 Posted on August 11, 2020 in Child Custody

People going through divorces in Virginia have to make many very difficult decisions during a very emotional period of time in their lives. It is not easy to separate a life that the two had built together. In many instances people are not leaving on the best of terms either and may be upset with the other spouse because of what led to the divorce. This emotion may affect all of the decisions that people make and make it difficult to reach compromises on the various issues that need to be resolved.

If the spouses are not able to reach agreements on the issues, ultimately the decisions will be made by a judge. In making the various decisions, the judges will analyze the specific facts of the marriage which are presented to them at a trial. They will then apply the various laws and cases to the facts to determine the outcome. The type of analysis the judge will use depends on the decision they are making at the time. When making child custody and visitation decisions they will analyze various factors to determine what is in the children's best interest.

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 Posted on July 30, 2020 in Divorce

People don't get married because they imagine they will eventually get divorced. Marriage is usually the result of wanting to spend the rest of your life with someone. Unfortunately, relationships and the people in them change, and not always for the better.

You and your spouse may have slowly grown apart in recent years, especially if your children have left the home. You may have discovered an affair, or your spouse may have developed a very dangerous habit, like gambling or using drugs. When you can't imagine staying in your marriage anymore, it's time to take action to protect yourself.

Filing for divorce is not an admission of responsibility for the failure of your marriage. In fact, being the one to file for divorce when you know that your marriage won't work out is the responsible thing to do. It could even put you in a better position as the divorce proceeds.

You can get the documents you need before your spouse hides or changes them

Divorce can make people very emotional, resulting in uncharacteristically unethical behavior in someone who is otherwise a good person. Some people will go so far as altering financial records or destroying them so that their spouse doesn't know about certain assets or income.

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 Posted on July 27, 2020 in Child Custody

Child custody negotiations in Virginia often involve determining what arrangements and plans will serve the best interests of the impacted children. Arriving at custody determinations for different children can require parents and their attorneys to take very different paths since different kids can have very divergent needs. There is no one size fits all approach to child custody, and it is therefore important that families provide as much information as possible to their attorneys and the courts so that sound decisions can be made.

It can be tempting for parents to wish to hide some of the or information about their less than perfect parenting when the custody of their kids is on the line. However, concealing information or providing less than complete truths can be detrimental to their cases. This post addresses some of the types of information parents should be prepared to convey when they are negotiating for the custody of their kids.

• The health of the parents: A parent who has received a negative diagnosis may want to conceal that fact from the family law court, but a parent's mental and physical fitness are important custody factors.

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 Posted on July 13, 2020 in Family Law

Back in February 2020, before the current COVID-19 pandemic essentially shut-down the nation, a Chesterfield, VA couple's divorce case proved to be a game changer when it comes to the subject of spousal support in Virginia. In it, a court ruling was made that would allow judges to consider more than just the legal grounds for a divorce when making a ruling on support, thereby providing much needed clarity on an often muddy subject.

In this particular case, the parties both agreed to a "no-fault" divorce, which also included the wife filing a motion to bar her adultery from being brought up in the divorce proceedings. Since that was the case, the judge ruled that the wife would receive spousal support of $45,000 payable over a 5 year period. Because the husband and wife had agreed to a no-fault divorce and her adultery would not be discussed, he did not expect to be ordered to pay her support.

Feeling that this just was not right, he appealed the decision. He believed that although barred from the divorce proceeding itself, the wife's adultery was able to be discussed regarding spousal support in accordance with a 2016 amendment to the spousal support law. It turned out that the appeals court agreed with him stating that anything which brought about dissolution of the marriage by either party should be taken into consideration.

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 Posted on June 29, 2020 in Child Custody

Like other states, Virginia has a rule that requires parents who are subject to custody and parenting time orders to let each other know if they plan to move.

Specifically, the law of this state requires that any parent who wants to move for any reason, whether they have custody or simply exercise parenting time, must give the other parent 30 days of advance notice. The notice must be in writing.

Courts do have some leeway to alter this rule. For instance, if a parent has a good reason not to provide advance notice, the parent can obtain a court order to that effect. A good example of this is where the other parent has been credibly accused of abuse, and the parent wanting to move is trying to protect herself or his child.

Also, courts can modify exactly how much notice each parent has to give and can tailor it to the circumstances. For instance, for a local move down the street, a simple letter or note with the new address may suffice.

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 Posted on June 23, 2020 in Family Law

There are several different ways for divorcing couples to approach dividing a family business during divorce. Dividing a family business during a divorce can be difficult financially and emotionally which is why divorcing couples who have built a business together and share a business should be familiar with the different options available to them.

There are different ways of looking at property division during the divorce process and different methods of addressing dividing a family business. The best option depends on the goals of the couple and their wishes for the business moving forward. Options for dividing a business during divorce include:

• Both spouses keep the business - this option is probably the least common because it will require the divorcing couple to continue to work together. If the divorcing couple decides to keep the business, they will have to work out who will manage it and a work schedule if they intend to continue working together going forward.

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 Posted on June 19, 2020 in Divorce

You've tried everything you can to make your marriage work, but no matter how hard you try you run into one challenge after the next.

At this point, you have a couple of options. You can remain in your marriage and hope for the best, or ask your spouse for a divorce so that you can start fresh.

If you , you'll be relieved that you can finally remove yourself from your hopeless marriage. Conversely, you may have concerns about what the divorce process will bring as it relates to your finances, children and other key matters in your life.

There are two things you can do to set yourself up for success:

• Ask for a divorce in the appropriate manner
• Prepare for anything and everything that could come your way

Asking for a divorce is the first step in leaving your marriage in the past. This can be a difficult enough conversation without making mistakes, so you should have a clear idea of what you're trying to accomplish. Here are some tips you can use:

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 Posted on June 10, 2020 in Family Law

Ending a marriage can feel like a failure. Because no one gets married to get a divorce, it can feel like one's world has turned upside down. But divorcing spouses in Virginia are not alone. This is because the divorce rate has remained around 50% in the United States. And of those divorcing partners, many of them have children.

Divorcing with children can seem to make the process more emotional and challenging because there are many unknowns along with the issues that need to be decided. What will custody look like, what will the children think, how will you relationship with your children change when you are no longer with them everyday and how will you work through future family issues.

When parents go through a divorce, many of them develop a sense of guilt because they look as the process as tearing a family apart. It is normal to worry about the children when going through this process; however, it is not all bad. When parents decide to divorce, it is often because they can no longer get along or something broke their marriage. If this creates a high conflict situation, it is often best that a child is not in the middle of that or living in a household with parents that do not get along.

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